House Oversight Committee: DOJ Waging Illegal War on Guns with 'Operation Choke Point'

29 May 2014

On May 19 Breitbart News reported Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) was using a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) assessment to target businesses listed as “high risk” – including firearms and ammunition sellers.

Firearms and ammunition retailers were labeled “high risk” along with “pornography,” “tobacco sales,” and “racist materials.”

On May 29 The Washington Times reported the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report arguing the DOJ is continuing in its efforts against firearm and ammunition sales under the guise of “Operation Choke Point,” the DOJ action ostensibly aimed at credit and financial fraud but which is actually being used “to ‘choke out’ businesses the Obama administration finds objectionable.”

DOJ pressure on banks during Operation Choke Point has resulted in a number of financial institutions cutting ties with certain gun stores or the firearms industry altogether, according to the Oversight Committee report.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) indicates the DOJ is using Operation Choke Point to “[conscript] banks to do their bidding.” He said this approach allows the DOJ to “[avoid] any review and any check on their power.”